Disposable single edge razor having a generally triangular head



Nov.'12, 1968 A H, B BAKER ET AL 3,409,982

DISPOSABLE SINGLE EDGE RAZOR HAVING A GENERALLY TRIANGULAR HEAD 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 .Filed Aug. 29. 1966 INVENTOR. H/GH n45: BAA/E6 fbw/veo E/QO/WF'ZET 7264 MM 1 awn m NOV. 12, 1968 w BAKER ET AL 3,409,982

DISPOSAELE SINGLE EDGE RAZOR HAVING A GENERALLY TRIANGULAR HEAD Filed Aug. 29, 1966 ZSheets-Shet' 2 United States Patent 3,409,982 DISPOSABLE SINGLE EDGE RAZOR HAVING A GENERALLY TRIANGULAR HEAD Hugh William Barnes Baker, Beaconsfield, and Edward Eric Pomfret, Hampton Hill, England, assignors to The Gillette Company, Boston, Mass., a corporation of Delaware a Filed Aug. 29, 1966, Ser. No. 575,809 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Sept. 9, 1965, 38,603/65 3 Claims. (Cl. 3047) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A disposable safety razor which comprises a generally triangular blade supporting platform having a handle attached to the underside of the platform and a blade guard along One side. The platform is provided with a blade stop adjacent each end of the blade guard and a blade locating projection at the apex opposite the side at which the guard is located. A single edge blade conforming generally to the shape of the platform, which blade may conveniently be made from one-half of a slotted double edge blade, is disposed on the platform with the ends of the sharpened edge in engagement with the blade stops and a notch in its apex in engagement with the blade-locating projection. A cap conforming in shape to the platform is clamped to the platform, sandwiching the blade therebetween.

This invention relates to the shaping of razor blades from wafer thin hardened steel strip and disposable razors comprising such blades.

According to one feature of the invention there is provided a method of shaping a razor blade, which includes the step of cutting a wafer thin strip of hardened steel by means of a V section punch while the strip is supported by a plane base of yieldable material.

The strip may be in the form of a double-edged blade, and one particularly advantageous application of the invention is in the manufacture of single edged blades from double-edged blades which would otherwise be scrapped for reasons not affecting the shaving edges ofthe blade.

In accordance with a preferred feature of the invention, the double edged blade is supported on a plane yielding base constituted by a blade guard, and the unwanted portions of the blade are cut off by means of a V-shaped punch working against the blade guard, to which the single-edged blade thus formed is subsequently secured.

The invention, whose precise scope is defined in the appended claims, includes razor blades made by the method of the invention, and razors including shaving heads incorporating such blades. 7

The invention 'also includes a method of forming a single edged razor blade from a double edged blade which includes the steps of scoring the double-edged blade diagonally in two directions and breaking the blade along the score lines.

The invention also provides a novel construction of a safety razor including a shaving head in which a singleedged razor blade is clamped between a blade guard and a cap of synthetic plastic material, the blade guard and cap having interfitting projections and recesses and being secured together by heat sealing.

The invention further provides a single edged razor blade having the general form of an isosceles triangle, the cutting edge being disposed along the base of the triangle and a part circular notch being formed at the apex.

Some embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

3,409,982 Patented Nov. 12, 1968 ice FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a punch used in performing the method of the invention,

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing one half of a blade guard used as a yielding base in a blade shaping operation,

FIGS. 3 and 4 are front and side elevations of one form of razor in accordance with the invention, and

FIGS. 5 and 6 show in plan and elevation an alternative form of razor.

FIG. 1 illustrates the shaping of a strip of wafer thin hardened strip A supported on a plane yielding base B, conveniently of polystyrene or other synthetic resin plastic material. The strip is severed by a punch C of V-shaped cross-section which is mounted for movement relative to an adjacent pressure pad D which is spring loaded downwardly relative to the punch. The'pad presses the strip against the base B prior to the strip being severed, and thereby tends to flatten out the base B which may be subject to slight inaccuracies. Additionally the punch is flexibly mounted with a small degree of float so that it can accommodate slight misalignments of the base B relative to the line of action of the punch C and small irregularities in the base.

This method of shaping razor blades may be applied where a strip of great length is formed with one or two sharpened cutting edges, and separate blades are severed therefrom in the manner described.

Alternatively, it can be applied to the production of single edged blades from double edged blades which have, for example, been rejected for reasons not affecting the shaving edges.

In either case, the yielding base B is advantageously constituted by a blade guard to which the blade is subsequently to be secured.

In FIG. 2 there is illustrated a plan view of one half of a blade guard 3 of generally triangular profile having a rear projection H at its apex. A double-edged blade A is superimposed as indicated in phantom line, and the blade is severed along a slightly curved line E. The severing is duplicated on the other half of the blade guard 3 to produce a single-edged blade having the general form of an isosceles triangle having the cutting edge disposed along the base of the triangle, and a part circular notch G being formed at the apex which receives and engages the projection H. A shaving head is completed by securing, usually through heat sealing, a cap (not shown in FIG. 2) to the guard 3, the cap being formed with interfitting projections which extend into the recesses F and a rear notch which accommodates the projection H. The guard 3 is provided with a pair of front projections I, one on each end, which in cooperation with the rear projection H serve to accurately ocate the cutting edge of the blade A along the shaving edge.

One form of razor in accordance with the invention is illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4. The razor, which is constructed of synthetic resin plastic materials, comprises a shaving head 1 mounted on handle 2. The head 1 comprises the guard 3 and a cap 4, between which is secured a generally triangular blade 5 formed from a double-edged blade in the manner described in relation to FIG. 2. The head 1 is releasably received in a transversely extending channel or notch 6 at the upper end of handle 2, the width of the notch 6 tapering slightly towards its open, forward end, and the head 1 being correspondingly shaped so that the parts are dovetailed together. The head 1 is held in position by friction, assisted by the resilience of the material of which the razor is made.

The razor is illustrated with its head 1 in position for use, with the cutting edge of the blade 5 exposed, but the head 1 may be assembled with the handle 2 in an alternative position, indicated in phantom line, in which the head 1 lies flat against the handle, intermediate the ends thereof, so that the edge of the blade 5 is protected by the handle against damage, particularly during packaging and transit.

Equally, the wrapping of the razor is protected from being cut by the blade. The head is held in this position by virtue of a projection 7 on the side of the handle, which projection is removably received in and gripped by a slot or aperture 8 in the head 1. The head is readily removed from the projection 7 and inserted in the notch 6 to prepare the razor for use.

An alternative form of razor in accordance with the invention wherein the guard 3 is moulded integrally with the handle 2 is illustrated in FIG. 5, which shows the razor in plan with the cap removed for clarity, and in FIG. 6, which is a side elevation.

The blade guard 3 is formed with two notches 11 to receive corresponding projections 13 on the cap 4, and with a part circular projection 12 which accommodates a corresponding notch in the cap (not shown) and the part circular notch 14 at the apex of the blade 5. When the razor is assembled, as shown in FIG. 6, the projections and corresponding notches are preferably heat-sealed together to clamp the blade firmly therebetween.

The above described razors may be manufactured sutficiently cheaply to be disposable after a single use.

As an alternative to the above described method of stamping the blades, these may be formed from existing double edged blades by scoring the blades diagonally from corner to corner in both directions and subsequently breaking off the single edge triangular blades thus marked out. The design of the blades and razors may be such that each of the triangular blades marked olf by the score lines may have secured to it a guard and cap prior to the blade being broken off along the score lines.

What we claim is:

1. A disposable safety razor including; a shaving head in which a single-edged razor blade is clamped between a blade guard and a cap of synthetic plastic material, the blade guard and cap having interfitting projections and recesses for securing them to one another, said shaving head and the blade therein having the general form of an isosceles triangle, the shaving edge being disposed along the base of said triangle and the cutting edge of the blade being located along the shaving edge by a pair of spaced projections adjacent said shaving edge and by a projection at the apex of said head which engages a notch in the apex of said blade.

2. A safety razor according to claim 1 which includes a handle having a transversely extending notch at one end and intermediate its ends a lateral projection, said head having the edge opposite the shaving edge removably gripped in said notch for use and said head having an aperture therein which can receive and grip said lateral projection and position said shaving edge intermediate the edges of said handle for storage.

3. A disposable safety razor molded of a synthetic resin comprising a blade-supporting platform having guard teeth at its front and a handle attached to its bottom, and a blade-clamping cap having projections which engage openings in said platform, said platform having rearwardly converging sides which gives the platform a shape similar to that of an isosceles triangle, a generally triangular blade having rearwardly converging sides which are concavely-curved around notches in the converging sides of the platform, the rear apex of the blade having a notch which receives and engages a complementary upstanding projection at the rear apex of the platform, the sharpened edge of the blade lying next to said guard teeth at the front of the platform with the opposite ends of said sharpened edge in abutting relation with upstanding projections at opposite ends of the front of the platform, said blade-clamping cap having a triangular shape corresponding to that of the platform and being clamped over said blade with the downward projections at the rearwardly converging sides of the cap received within said notches in the platform outside the converging sides of the blade.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 856,078 6/ 1907 Martin 30-48 X 919,719 4/1909 Hart 30-47 1,030,023 6/1912 Shannon 30-48 1,439,059 12/1922 Blum 30-48 X 1,824,252 9/1931 Winkler 30-346.61 X 1,866,434 7/1932 Weaver 30346.6l 1,995,232 3/1935 Tipery 30-48 2,077,241 4/1937 Karle 30-47 2,306,890 12/1942 Mayeux 30-62 2,347,595 4/1944 De Swart 30-74.l 2,676,397 4/ 1954 De Bacco et al 30-47 2,704,397 3/ 1955 Turgi 30-32 2,820,287 1/1958 Hyatt 30-32 2,911,711 11/1959 Loughlin 30-32 2,983,045 5/1961 Diatikar 30346.61 X

MYRON C. KRUSE, Primary Examiner. 

